7/8/2023 0 Comments Clarkston georgia expoWhile Clarkston has placed itself on the map by celebrating its diversity, the city is in a state of flux. “Many people are scared of voting because doing this in their home country sometimes could be really dangerous,” Rai described. Gubo and Rai said days after the election that they had been successful in engaging new voters among refugee residents and met with people who had no idea they could participate in the election. While the election did not go in their favor, it’s symbolic of the changes that have taken place in this city over the last seven years. This was the first time Gubo and Rai ran for public office. They both ran for city council seats in early November, the first time either had run for office.ĭarara Gubo, 40, a law student from Ethiopia and Samuel Rai, 26, who grew up in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, both ran for council seats in November, 2019 on the same ticket as incumbent council member Andrea Cervone, 30. Portrait of Darara Gubo, left, 40, a law student from Ethiopia, and Samuel Rai, 26, who grew up in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, photographed in front of Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, Georgia. While most states receive a certain amount federal funding to support these programs, Georgia has historically been among the top 10 states accepting the highest numbers of refugees annually, according to data provided by Welcoming America, a non-profit organization that supports refugees. fleeing political persecution, war and other humanitarian crises. Most of whom came to Clarkston through the refugee resettlement program that provides support for refugees coming to the U.S. The law set up a framework that allowed displaced people with special humanitarian concerns to apply for refugee status in the U.S. While it started attracting displaced people from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries in the late 1970s, it didn’t officially become a refugee resettlement site until the 1980s, after former president Jimmy Carter passed the United States Refugee Act. The American South is your destination for journalism that exposes the wrongs and celebrates what's right about the region. Over the last three decades, this quiet suburb just 30 minutes northeast of downtown Atlanta has become home to thousands of refugees representing more than 40 countries and speaking at least 60 languages, according to the city's mayor. Joe Gonzalez Representing diversity in America The coffee and food truck provides employment and job training to refugees recently resettled in the community. Rudika, a neighbor, customer and sometimes- jewelry vendor from Bhutan sits outside. Leon Shombana, 47, a former high school teacher from the Democratic Republic of Congo now works as a manager at Refuge Coffee in Clarkston, Georgia. He explained, as he rolled a mixture of cloves, coconut powder and fennel into leaves - that paan is a breath freshener, gesturing to his mouth. Next door in the South Asian Market, the store manager coated the front counter with the ingredients used to make paan. The steely sky threatened rain as a woman in a rust-colored sari jumped out of her car with two children in tow and rushed into the Biryani Point grocery store. The coffee shop, which doubles as an unofficial town center, sits on a slight hill past the train tracks, surrounded by a collection of grocery stores and restaurants catering to palates from across the globe. Photo by DUSTIN CHAMBERS Photo illustration by Caitlin Ellingson/USA TODAY NetworkĬlarkston, Georgia - A train rattled through Clarkston momentarily drowning out the swell of conversation and music inside Refuge Coffee on a gray late October morning. The town is just outside of Atlanta’s city limits and has become known as the “Ellis Island of the South.” Farhiya Muhyadin, the wife of Omar Shekey, photographed in her store, Benadir Dollar Store, in Clarkston, Georgia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |